Monday, July 17, 2017

Blog Tour: Lake of Sins: Escape by @lsodea #interview #giveaway

The rest are loaded onto carts and taken away from the encampment. Never to be seen again.

Trinity has one week to escape into the forest and discover the fate of her kind.

Dive into the Lake of Sins and discover a world filled with human-animal hybrids where predators are friends and monsters aren't nearly as scary as those who create them.

The YA, dark fantasy series people are calling dark, gritty and too disturbing to put down.

Interview

Is There a Message in Your Novel That You Want Readers to
Grasp?

Actually, there is and
many folks do get it. I’ve had several readers
say that after reading my books (especially, book 2), they are reconsidering
eating meat. I’m vegetarian (should be
vegan) and have studied the farming of animals for years. Now, don’t think the books are preachy,
because they aren’t. Many people don’t
even pick up on that theme. I think it
depends on where you are in your life.
Some of the folks who’ve said they recognize the slaughter practices and
such have already been looking into the meat industry and it’s practices.

The books are fiction
first, with a quiet theme of how animals are treated and mistreated in our
world.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your
writing?

Time. I still work my day job and writing takes a
lot of time, not to mention marketing.
I’ve given up a lot of things to write and market—like cleaning my
house, cooking dinner, reading and watching television – but it’s all worth
it. I love writing and the stories that
come out of my head.

How many books have you written and which is your favorite?

I write under two pen
names. L. S. O’Dea has five books and a
box set. Ellis O. Day has six books and
a box set. Ellis writes erotica or
steamy (very steamy) romance intended for 18 and up only.

L. S. O’Dea’s books are
fine for about 15 and up. There’s no sex
on the pages but the characters are treated like animals in our world so there’s
talk of mating and such.

My favorite—that’s hard
to decide. There are things that I love
about all of them. But, if I had to
pick, I’d say book 2, Secrets In Blood.
It just all came together very well and took some very interesting
twists and turns.

If You had the chance to cast your main character fromHollywoodtoday, who would you pick and why?

That’s kind of funny
that you ask and I’ll explain in a minute.
First, let me say that I’m not a visual person. I don’t see people, I see dialogue and who
the characters are internally. So, picking an actor would be hard for me –
especially since I never watch movies any more or even TV and my main character
is young, so I’d need a young actor.
Quite frankly, I don’t know any.

My family however has
already suggested some. They suggested
Michael Clarke Duncan (the big guy who had special gifts in The Green Mile) for
the character of Gaar. I explained that
Michael Clarke Duncan was dead. Then
they picked Brittany Murphy for Trinity.
I had to explain that she was dead too.
My family wasn’t much help in casting unless we’re filming in heaven. 😊

When did you begin writing?

I got angry at some
people at work and sat down to write.
I’d wanted to do it for years.
Had gone to college for writing but had never put in the work. So, somewhere around 2012, I signed up for an
online writing course and never looked back.
The book I wrote became Lake Of Sins: Escape and Lake Of Sins: Secrets
In Blood.

How long did it take to complete your first book?

About two to three
years, but it became books one and two in the Lake of Sins series. I’m writing faster now. I’m getting better at editing and that cuts a
lot of time down for me because I edit and edit and edit until I’m sick of my
story and I can’t find anything to change.

Did you have an author who inspired you to become a writer?

No, not really. I was a voracious
reader when growing up and throughout my early twenties. I read pretty much any genre and if I found
an author I liked, I’d read them until their books became predictable.

What is your favorite part of the writing process?

That’s hard. I love/hate every bloody step. I love the creating, the rough draft
phase. I just sit down and write
whatever comes. I don’t worry about if
it’s good, bad or stupid. I just
write. Of course, this phase sucks when
nothing wants to come. It’s annoying
when I have to take the characters by hand and lead them into their lives. They can be stubborn and quiet and it really
makes me want to slap them, but eventually they spark to life and I’m like,
“Oh, there you are. Nice to finally meet
you.”

The second phase for me
is the first edit. This is hard as I
reshape, flesh out and cut the rough draft.
This used to be my most hated part, but as I get better at putting the
words down right the first time, I’m finding myself surprised by the shape the
story is already in.

Once the first round of
editing is done, I edit more and more, and more, handing it out to multiple
levels of beta readers. This part can be
fun and also trying. I love getting the
feedback as long as they’re telling me what I want to hear. When they don’t, I get a little snappy and
then have to apologize the next day.
They’re always right but I can’t help feeling defensive.

Describe your latest book in 4 words.

Dreams shattered.
Passions ignited.

Can you share a little bit about your current work or what is
in the future for your writing?

I’m going to finish the Lake of
Sins series but that will take a few years.
I’ll release book five around Christmas this year and then next year,
I’ll focus on the spinoff series –Conguise Chronicles. The spinoff series tells the stories of the
genetic modifications that Professor Conguise created and set loose in the
forest surrounding the Lake of Sins.
There are some characters you need to meet before the final Lake of Sins
books.

Once I’m done with the Lake Of
Sins, I’m going to write a thriller (I think) and then there are the prequel to
the Lake of Sins (I mean I need to explain how the Great Death wiped out most
humans and all animals over about 20 pounds) and some side stories on
characters who we meet in the Lake of Sins series and perhaps even the next set
of stories about the next generation from the Lake of Sins.

I have so many ideas and stories, I
fear I won’t have time to write them all.

About the Author

L. S. O’Dea grew up the youngest of seven in a family that uses teasing and tricks as an indication of love (or at least that’s what she tells herself). Being five years younger than her closest sibling often made her the unwilling entertainment for her brothers and sisters.

Before she started kindergarten her brothers taught her how to spell her first and middle name—Linda Sue. She was so proud she ran into the kitchen to tell her mother. She stood tall and recited the letters of her name: L-E-M-O-N H-E-A-D.

Perhaps, she has her siblings to thank for the demons that whisper through her mind and help to create these dark and demented stories.